Usually, ice making devices are mounted inside the freezing compartment of an ordinary refrigerator in order to facilitate the making and dispensing of ice cubes. Previously, ice making devices consisted of ice making trays arranged in various arrays within a support structure that had to be manually removed and filled directly by the user. These trays could be rotated to remove the ice in them by means of simple independent knobs attached to each of them. Nowadays, particularly the systems to fill and rotate the trays for the release of ice cubes have been improved as shown in the following documents of the state of the art.
For example, the United States Application No. 2008/0006048 A1 discloses an ice tray assembly for ice making which mainly comprises: an outer case, an inner case mounted in a sliding manner on the outer case, two ice making trays arranged within the inner case, a gear mechanism actuated by a lever to rotate the trays, and a detachable water tank mounted on the upper portion of the outer case. In said assembly, water is supplied to the trays from the water container by means of a valve manually actuated by a lever, resulting impractical for the user since he/she needs to keep activating said mechanism while filling said trays. Additionally, it includes a system of chutes and pipes to guide the water into the trays, making this assembly considerably more complex and, therefore, more expensive. Moreover, said valve element does not include a system to prevent any waste of water to become stagnant and accumulate near the valve element, even in small quantities, this water could freeze causing a bad seal of said valve and, therefore, an assembly malfunction. Lastly, the trays are permanently assembled inside the inner case; therefore, they cannot be detached from the same, making it difficult for cleaning and/or maintenance purposes.
Furthermore, the United States Application No. 2009/0314024 A1 discloses and ice making apparatus which comprises a case with an ice making chamber, two trays installed so that they rotate inside the ice making chamber, a tray driving mechanism made up of a series of gears and an actuation lever, a water tank disposed separately from the case and arranged in a fixed and isolated way on the freezer door. In said apparatus, water is supplied to the trays from the fixed tank through a valve actuated by an electrical lever and through a system of chutes and pipes to guide the water into the trays, making this assembly considerably more complex and, therefore, more expensive. Particularly, this apparatus is intended to solve the vortex or maelstrom phenomenon in the water inside the pipes leading to the trays, whereby a series of guiding tabs or protrusions are arranged along said pipes to prevent water from flowing in a circumferential direction inside them. Therefore, this apparatus does not include a water supply system with any characteristic to prevent water waste to accumulate near the valve element; this water waste could freeze causing a bad seal of the valve and, thus, an apparatus malfunction. Moreover, the trays are permanently assembled inside the inner case; therefore, they cannot be detached from the same, making it difficult for cleaning or maintenance purposes.
The United States Application No. 2009/0178431 A1 discloses an ice making unit which comprises an ice making case, a plurality of trays rotably installed inside the ice making case, a device to separate ice cubes from the trays by rotation of the trays made by a series of gears and an actuation lever, a detachable tank for water supply disposed above the trays to store the water supplied to the same, and an ice cube storage container below said trays. In said unit, water is supplied to the trays from the detachable tank (previously filled) through a valve automatically actuated by a protrusion on the case, once the tank is fully installed in place inside said case, and through a system of chutes and pipes to guide the water into the trays, making this assembly considerably more complex and, therefore, more expensive. Particularly, this apparatus does not include a water supply system from the tank to the trays with a characteristic to prevent any water waste to accumulate particularly near the valve or the tank outlet openings; this water waste could freeze causing a bad seal of the valve and, therefore, an apparatus malfunction. Together with the previous statements, although in this case, the trays are detachably mounted inside the case, they have to be assembled again in the same way in which they were removed since the rotating shafts built at the end of said trays are not symmetrical, which requires additional care from the user.
Hence, based on the above statements, there exists a need for an ice making device that effectively and reliably resolves the drawbacks present in the art previously described.